RBB director Vernau settles accounts with predecessor Schlesinger

2023-04-25 13:31:38

media Sharp criticism

RBB director Vernau settles accounts with predecessor Schlesinger

Status: 1:47 p.m | Reading time: 2 minutes

Katrin Vernau has been director of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) since September 2022.

Source: dpa/Michael Bahlo

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According to her successor as RBB director, Katrin Vernau, Patricia Schlesinger tended to “fold colleagues together” when she objected. In addition, she had thought of spending on a scale “that is not appropriate for a public-law institution financed by contributions”.

Dhe artistic director of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), Katrin Vernau, has sharply criticized the work of her predecessor, Patricia Schlesinger, who was fired without notice. “Instead of consolidating its own broadcaster, RBB’s focus was on redistributing funds within ARD,” Vernau told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. In addition, Schlesinger tended to think in terms of expenditure in terms of magnitude “that are not appropriate for a contribution-financed public-law institution”.

Hints “that didn’t fit the plans were simply ignored,” said Vernau. Colleagues who put themselves between Schlesinger and her goal with technical arguments sometimes ironed them out instead of being convinced by technical arguments: “She tended to fold colleagues together.”

According to Vernau, however, he only found out about the extent of the mismanagement at RBB from the media. If the RBB had not changed course economically, solvency would not have been easily ensured at the end of 2024, she said. This is now guaranteed thanks to the additional planned savings of almost 50 million euros. “However, if there is no increase in the fee after 2025, our broadcaster will face the next round of budget consolidation.”

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When asked whether she would apply as director in the current tendering process, Vernau said: “I said that at the staff meeting in February, I’m ready to implement the plan that we worked out together for RBB. Because I am convinced that this is the right plan.”

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The RBB got into a serious crisis as a result of the affair involving the former director Patricia Schlesinger and the former chairman of the RBB board of directors, Wolf-Dieter Wolf. Schlesinger resigned in August 2022 after weeks of allegations of possible nepotism and accepting benefits. She was then dismissed by the RBB supervisory bodies and terminated without notice.

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